The Beach Party is set mostly in 1989, when six university friends celebrate their graduation by jetting off to Mallorca. It soon becomes clear there are existing tensions within the group, and that almost all of them have something to hide. But things get rapidly worse after a fateful accident at a beach party celebrating Nit de Foc (Night of Fire). Holed up in their luxury villa, the group start to turn on each other - and it becomes clear they may not make it out alive.

Despite a couple of promising narrative threads, I found The Beach Party a frustrating read. The pacing felt off to me, as there are so many loose ends in the first half of the novel that I struggled to keep track of them all - which actually robbed the novel of much of its tension, as I forgot what answers I was supposed to be waiting for. It also felt unbelievable that so many characters had explosive secrets in their past before the beach party itself even kicked off, especially as they are all about 21. This meant that the second half of the novel featured a lot of long, tedious conversations as the characters unravel exactly who did what and knew what - and by then, I didn't really care.

Having said that, I did think the central plot here was strong, if it hadn't been muddled by so many additional questions. I liked the 1989 setting, and the section when the group are hiding in the villa was tense and gripping. If the novel had stuck more closely to what happened at the beach party and its aftermath, rather than flashing between past and present, and giving its characters such knotty pasts, I would have enjoyed it much more.

I will post my full review to Goodreads and my blog etc nearer the publication date.

Short, punchy chapters really add to the tension in this nail-biter of a read. My fingernails are ripped to shreds! I really took a liking to all the characters, in a weird sort of way as some are more likeable than others, and I kept shouting at them as their situation kept getting stickier and stickier. The ending was a surprise for me… I did think things were going to head in a different direction. All in all, if you like a good ol’ thriller with some sexy characters and a apprehensive storyline, then ‘The Beach Party’ is one for you.

The Beach Party is very much a slow burn

Most of the book seems to be centered about what happened in 1989, and then the ripple that caused into the future.

Overall an entertaining and fun read

I’ve loved all of Nikki’s books but my gosh, this is her best yet!

Perfectly plotted, brilliantly tense, and utterly addictive - I gobbled it up in less than 24 hours!

As the Spanish sun beat down on me from above and the characters came alive before my eyes I had to keep reading! On completion I was startled to see the grey November day outside my window, yes it’s that immersive!